REPORT Finds Progress In Inverclyde’s Help For Vulnerable AdultsAN inspection into adult support and protection in Inverclyde has shown strengths in how partners work together to protect vulnerable people.
The inspection, the first of its kind, involved The Care Inspectorate, Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, and also identified areas for improvement.
Inverclyde Council leader and chair of Inverclyde Alliance community planning partnership, Councillor Stephen McCabe, said: “This is another extremely positive examination of services in Inverclyde and builds on the many independent inspections carried out in recent years.
“The inspection by three agencies into Inverclyde’s adult support and protection services is the first of its kind and will be the way other areas are examined.
“It should be noted that the inspection itself took place during the pandemic response period and it is testament to the professionalism and compassion of our teams that they are able to come through both a pandemic and inspection with such positive outcomes.
“It should once again provide our community with reassurance that the people delivering local services to our communities are there to support and protect our most vulnerable.
“Also it is an opportunity to recognise that every single one of us in our communites has a part to play in making sure that people in our area going through difficult times in their lives know that we are there for them when they need us.”
Inspectors looked at health, police, and social work records of 50 adults at risk of harm and recordings of 38 adult protection initial inquiry episodes.
Their report found the Inverclyde partnership had taken positive steps to ensure there were improvements in the lives of adults subject to adult support and protection processes, and that they were safer because of the support and protection they received.
Effective communication, information sharing, collaboration and joint work were positive features of the partnership’s response to adult support and protection work.
And they found there was a high degree of confidence amongst staff that strategic leaders, including the adult protection committee (APC), provided good leadership for adult support and protection work.
Key areas for improvement include revising the partnership’s practice standards and operating procedures to ensure service managers apply a more consistent approach to adult support and protection chronology, risk assessment and protection planning work.
They also found that the partnership’s quality assurance performance framework needs to be further developed and more consistently applied to ensure a better understanding of results and the improvements required.
The chief officers’ group and adult protection committee should scrutinise quality assurance activity more robustly and ensure identified improvement work is carried out.
Peter Macleod, Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate said: “The Care Inspectorate and our partners Healthcare Improvement Scotland and Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland were asked by Scottish Ministers to carry out joint inspections of adult support and protection across Scotland.
“This is a report of our findings for Inverclyde partnership. It sets out how effectively they make sure adults at risk of harm are safe, protected, and supported.
“We found signs of encouraging progress in Inverclyde and have also set out areas that can be further improved to ensure that adults subject to adult support and protection are better protected.”
